Samaveda

The Samaveda is one of the four Vedas in Hinduism. It is known as the Veda of melodies and chants. “Sama” means song, and “Veda” means knowledge. It has 1,875 verses; almost 75 verses have been taken from another Veda called the Rigveda. The oldest parts are very ancient, dating back to around 1200 to 1000 BCE.^[3] It has different layers, including hymns (Samhita), explanations (Brahmana), and philosophical texts (Upanishads). It has important texts like the Chandogya Upanishad and Kena Upanishad, which influenced Hindu philosophy. It laid the foundation for Indian music.

Samaveda
Four Vedas
Information
Religion	Historical Vedic religion Hinduism
Language	Vedic Sanskrit
Period	Vedic period (c. 1200-900 BCE)[1]
Chapters	6 adhyayas
Verses	1,875 mantras[2]

Dating and historical context

Michael Witzel says we can’t know the exact dates for the Samaveda and other Vedic texts. He assumes that Samaveda was composed after Rigveda-from approximately 1200 to 1000 BCE-but at the same time as Atharvaveda and Yajurveda.^[4][1][3] There had been about twelve varieties of Samavedic chanting. Of the three versions we still have, the Jaiminiya version is the oldest.^[5]

Contents

The Samaveda Samhita is not to be 'read' like other texts; it is more of a musical score to be 'heard'.^[6] According to Staal, the melodies existed before the verses in ancient India. The words of the Rigveda were then fitted into these melodies. Some early words fit well, while later words don’t fit as smoothly. ^[6] The text uses creative structures called Stobha to make the words fit better into the music.^[7][8] At times, the addition of meaningless sounds, much like those in a lullaby, serves to help in this respect. This shows that the Samaveda is a mix of music, sounds, meaning, and spirituality, and it wasn’t created all at once.^[6]

For example, the first song of the Samaveda shows how Rigvedic verses were turned into a melodic chant:

The veena (a musical instrument) is mentioned in the Samaveda.^[9]

अग्न आ याहि वीतये – Rigveda 6.16.10^[10]
Agna ā yāhi vītaye

Samaveda transformation (Jaiminiya manuscript):
o gnā i / ā yā hi vā i / tā yā i tā yā i /

Translation:
O Agni, come to the feast.

— Samaveda 1.1.1, Translated by Frits Staal^[6]

The veena (a musical instrument) is mentioned in the Samaveda. A number of songs were derived by various sages from a basic mantra known as Yonimantra. One example is Gautama’s Parka, mentioned by Dr. Damodar Satwalekar in his book on the Samaveda.^[11]